One year ago this weekend, Congress passed far-reaching legislation to overhaul the U.S. health care system. Regardless of your personal views about the law, there are provisions in it about which most people, as patients, should agree. These provisions provide incentives for your doctor and her colleagues to adopt and use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful way. The incentives encourage your doctor to use EHRs to improve the quality of your care and to increase communication with you and with other doctors who share responsibility -- with you -- for your heath. The goal is that "meaningful use" of EHRs will help to improve health and blunt increases in health care costs.

Cuyahoga County is ground zero for much of this work. Physicians and hospitals in our region have jumped into EHR adoption with both feet. The region is a leader of EHR adoption nationally, and lessons we are learning are improving care in our community and helping to guide the rest of the country.

EHRs are, logically enough, computerized records of the care you receive. They allow health care professionals to easily assess your medical history, order and review needed tests, monitor results over time and measure the care they provide against nationally endorsed standards for quality treatment. Information can be confidentially shared among providers so that everyone who treats you has the same information -- a comprehensive look at your care.

As a physician, I have seen firsthand the effectiveness of EHRs. Tools in the EHR alert me to order tests that are recommended for my patients' conditions and offer on-the-spot information to guide treatment that reflects current laboratory information, allergies and immunization history. Results of tests recently ordered by my colleagues are available to me, just as the results of tests that I've ordered are available to them.

EHRs are working for the people of our region. Recently, Better Health Greater Cleveland released its latest Community Health Checkup, which provides a snapshot comparing the care provided in our community between July 2009 and June 2010 -- as a region and for each of the 48 medical practices that have collaborated to measure and improve the care of their patients with important chronic conditions. The results show that our region's EHR investment is paying off. For patients with diabetes, for example, 51 percent of those receiving care in an EHR practice received all the recommended care, as compared with 7 percent of those who received care in a paper-based practice. That's a remarkable 44 percentage-point difference. What's more, Better Health's analyses show that EHRs benefit everyone, including patients who are insured by Medicare, commercial health plans and Medicaid, and those who are uninsured.

For EHRs to be truly effective in transforming care in the region, however, they have to first be used by all physicians. Ask your physician if she uses an EHR. If she doesn't, ask what she is doing to move in that direction. There are a lot of local resources to help her take the leap. If she already uses an EHR, ask how you can help improve your care. Most patients I know want better communication with their doctors and among their doctors. Most doctors want patients to get more involved in understanding and improving their health. The EHR provides valuable information to better help patients and doctors set and check up on their goals.

The forces are aligning for health care improvement here, but we need patients and providers to work together. Electronic health records can help everyone get on the same page to improve quality and improve health. If at the same time we are able to reduce health care costs, we can help make Greater Cleveland a healthier place to live and a better place to do business. We think that this is what health care reform is intended to accomplish.

Cebul is the director of Better Health Greater Cleveland, a regional health improvement collaborative, and a primary-care physician at MetroHealth Medical Center. To view the Community Checkup report, go to betterhealthcleveland.org